Seats and their construction



Jan. 3, 1967 P. N. G. MURDOCH 3,295,390

' SEATS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION- Filed March 24, 1965 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 3, 1967 p. N. G. MURDOCH SEATS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 24, 1965 Jan. 3, 1967 P. N. G. MURDOCH SEATS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 24, 1965 United States Patent 3,295,890 SEATS AND THEIR CGNSTRUCTION Peter Nigel Gore Murdoch, New York, N.Y., assignor to Peter Murdoch, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 442,466 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 26, 1964, 12,878/64 6 Claims. (Cl. 297-445) This invention concerned with the construction of furniture for sitting upon, the principal categories of such furniture being chairs and stools. The word seat will be used as a name for all such furniture.

In a seat according to the present invention a surface to support a user is made of a portion of sheet material which is flexible, but nevertheless fairly stiff, and which is a development of a substantially inextensible fiat blank portion, and this first portion is integral with a second portion, the two portions being inclined to one another and meeting at a line of fold which is curved, so that the two portions are respectively convex and concave adjacent to the fold when considered from the same side of the sheet, and the seat also includes a part or parts which resist reversion of the two portions to the flat condition.

The stiffness of the sheet material is necessary to enable it to sustain a load without buckling or forming dimples, or otherwise bending locally. In manufacture, one convenient way of producing the fold is by weakening the material along the line of fold, and then applying forces to the portions to swing one relatively to the other about the line of fold so that the line constitutes a curved hinge. For example, if the sheet material is cardboard or a plastic, a groove may be pressed in it. Alternatively the material may be bent to shape by appropriate dies. If the material is a plastic, it may be heated locally for bending. Examples of suitable plastics are nylon, polythene and polypropylene. Light metal may alternatively he used. In particular aluminium may first be annealed along the line of fold, and then bent.

For any given curvature of the line of fold, the curvatures of the two portions adjacent to the line will depend on the amount of rotation of one portion relative to the other about the line of fold. To produce a stable structure, there must 'be resistance either to relative rotation of the portions about the line of fold, or to change of curvature of at least one of the portions, or both. A great variety in shapes is possible adjacent to the fold, because the line of fold may have non-uniform curvature along its length. Reverse curvature is also possible. Moreover, although the stiffness of the material is such that any small portion of the material can only be deformed in single curvature, nevertheless the variation in magnitude of curvature from place to place in two directions permits a wide range of shapes to be formed at a distance from the fold.

As a consequence of the wide range of shapes which can be used, the basic features of this invention can 'be embodied in a seat in a large variety of ways, and this will be apparent from consideration of some particular examples shown in the accompanying drawings. In these drawings:

FIGURE 1 shows a sheet of material cut to a particular outline;

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FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a chair formed from the sheet of material shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a central vertical section through the chair shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURES 4 and 5 and 6, are figures corresponding to FIGURES l, 2 and 3 for a second construction of chair.

FIGURES 7, 8 and 9 give details of a third construction of chair, FIGURE 7 being a View of a sheet of material cut to a particular outline, FIGURE 8 being a perspective exploded view of the chair formed with the sheet of material shown in FIGURE 7, and FIGURE 9 being a central vertical section through the chair;

FIGURES 10, 11. and 12 are figures corresponding to FIGURES 7, 8 and.9 fora fourth construction of chair; a

FIGURES 13, 14 and 15 are concerned with. a fifth construction of chair, FIGURE 13 showing two pieces of material, FIGURE 14 a perspective view of the chair, and FIGURE 15 a central vertical section through the chair;

FIGURES '16, 17 and 18 are figures corresponding to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 for a sixth construction of chair; 1

FIGURE 19 shows a variant of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 20 shows a stool-type'variant of FIGURE 3.

With reference to FIGURES 1,2 and 3, a flat sheet of material such as cardboard or a plastic is cut to produce a blank having the outline shown in full lines in FIGURE 1, and is weakened to permit folding along the lines shown by broken lines in FIGURE 1. To form the chair shown in perspective in FIGURE 2, the sheet material is bent, and one edge 2 of the main portion 3 is brought to a line 4, so that this main portion is formed into a truncated cone 5 with open ends. At the same time a portion 6 is folded along a line 8 so as to extend up within the cone, a portion 10"is folded along a line 12 so as to fill most of the top open end of the cone, and a portion 14 is folded along a line 16. The portion 10 lies approximately at right angles to the sides of the cone, and the portion 14 is inclined to the portion 10, as shown clearly in FIGURE 3. As shown clearly in FIGURE 2, the portion 10 forms a seat supporting surface of the chair, and the portion 14 forms a back supporting surface. The portion 6 folded up within the cone is of such length that its end 18 abuts against the underneath of the portion 10 and forms a central support for the portion 10. The edge 20 of the portion 10 abuts against the inside of the further side of the cone, so that the edge 20 is prevented from entering further into the cone by the taper of the sides of the cone.

A tab 24 extends beyond the line. 4, and is joined to the material adjacent to the edge 2. Preferably the joining is 'by means of blind rivets 25, as shown. Many other alternatives are possible, including use of self-locking tabs and slots, contact adhesive, lacing, snap fasteners, hooks, sliding clasp fasteners, sewing or stapling.

The lower edge of the portion 14 serves to lock the portion 10 in position, while the rear edge of the portion 10 resists forward deformation of the rear part of the cone 5, and thereby resists forward deformation of the portion 14.

Where the portions 3, 10 and 14 overlap one another adjacent to the corners 26 at which they meet, the three overlapping layers of material are pressed together and bent outwards so as to form armrests 27, as shown in FIGURE.2.

In a variation of this construction, the.,shapes of the line 16 and the portion 14 may be duplicates of the line 12 and the portion 10, and then, as shown in FIG- URE 20, the portion 14 is folded so as to lie substantially horizontally and at right angles to the sides of the cone, the portion 14 lying either above or below the portion 10, so that a stool is formed.

FIGURE 4 shows a sheet of material cut to the out line shown in full lines and with prepared fold lines shown in broken lines. To form the chair shown in prespective in FIGURE 5, the sheet material is folded and the edge 52 is joined to the tab 54 so that a truncated cone is formed. At the same time a portion 56 is folded up inside the cone in a similar manner to the portion 6 shown 'in FIGURES 1, 2, and 3, a portion 62 is folded along a line 63 so that it-lies approximately at right angles to the sides of the cone and forms a seat supporting surface, as shown in FIGURE 6 and a portion 58 is folded along a line 60 to lie underneath the portion 62. To form aback supporting surface, portions 64 and 66 are bent round so that the portion 66 lies behind the portion 64; the ends 72 and 74 are joined to the portions 66 and 64 respectively, by rivets or otherwise.

FIGURE 7 shows a third sheet of material cut to a particular outline and having prepared fold lines. T

form the seat and back supporting surfaces of the chair shown in FIGURE 8, a flange 30 is joined to a flange 32 by rivets 33 as described below, so that part of a hori- Zontal flattened cylinder is formed by the portions 34- and 36 take-n with a strip portion 38 lying between a fold line 40 and an adjacent edge 42 of the sheet material. A portion 44 is folded inwards as shown in FIGURE 8, so that it fills the cylinder, and a second strip portion 46 is folded along a line 48 and is joined to the inside surfaces 'of the portions 34 and 36.

As shown is FIGURE 8, the seat is mounted on a stand 50. The portions 34 and 36 together form the seat supporting surface of the chair, and the portion 44 forms the back supporting surface. Although the fold lines 40 and 48 meet at an angle at each end of the portion 44, there are no kinks in the portions 34 and 36, because curvature of the portion 44 is such that its ends are substantially tangent to the portions 34 and 36, and to the strip 46.

- The particular stand 50 shown is fixed to the underside of the portions 34 36 by inserting the flange 30', 32 into a channel member 49 which is part of the stand 59, and passing the rivets 33 through the sides of the channel as well as through the flanges 30', 32. In addition the portions 34, 36 rest on parts 51, 53 of the stand. The load of a person sitting in the chair cannot deform the rear edge of the portions 34, 36, because these are held to shape by their fixing to the portion 44 via the strip 46, but the forward .part of the portions 34, 36 will flex to an extent dependent on the material and thickness of the sheet, and on the nature of the fixing between the stand 50 and the portions 34, 36. The shape of the portion 44 and its inclination to the portions 34, 36 are determined by the fixing of the portion 44- to the portions 34, 36 via the strip 46 and by the fact that the strip 38 is a direct continuation of the portions 34, 36.

FIGURES 10, 11 and 12 show a chair formed in a very similar manner to the chair shown in FIGURES 7, 8 and 9; similar parts of the sheet material shown in outline in FIGURE 10 are identified by the same reference numerals as in FIGURES 4, 5 and 6, but with the addition of a suffix a. The bent and folded sheet material is mounted upon a stand 50a so that the portion 44a forms the seat supporting surface of the chair, and the portions 34a and 36a form the back supporting surface. The parts 51a, 53a of the stand are secured to the strips 38a and 46a by pop rivets or by clips (not shown). It

the sheet material is polypropylene, clips may be attached to it by hot air welding.

In the chair shown in FIGURES 13 to 15, the seat supporting surface and the back supporting surface are formed of two identical pieces of material, as shown in FIGURE 13, each consisting of a main portion a, 60b with two strips 61, 62. To form the chair, each piece of material is bent and folded, and the strips 61 are joined together face to face, as shown in FIGURES l4 and 15, by rivets or by welding. Then the underside of the seat supporting surface 60b is attached to a stand 63, by rivets or by clips (not shown). This stand assists in resisting reversion of the surface 60b to flat condition.

The chair shown in FIGURES 16 to 18 is of semireclining shape, and has seat and back supporting surfaces formed of a continuous portion of material 65 bent into reverse curves as shown in FIGURE 18. Along the edges of this portion 65 are strips 66, which, as shown in FIGURES 16 and 17, meet the portion 65 along lines of fold 67 which have reverse curvature to suit the curvature required for the portion 65. The central part of the underside of the portions 65 is attached to a stand 68, by rivets or by clips (not shown). The ends ofthe portion 65 are stiffened by strips 70, which are foldeddownwards along lines 72, and then connected to the strips 66 at 74. If the sheet material is polypropylene, the connections at 74 may be made by hot air welding. The stand 68 and the strips 70 together resist reversion of the portions 65 and 66 to flat condition.

If required, in any of these constructions the sheet material may be locally reinforced. For example, patches may be welded to the sheet where rivets are to be, or where abrasion or strain may occur.

As a matter of convenience, the sheet material may be subdivided. For example, FIGURE 19 shows a variant of FIGURE 1. Instead of the single piece of sheet material shown in FIGURE 1, there are two pieces 76 and 78, which are joined together by a tab 24 and a second tab 30, both tabs being extensions of the piece 76 and being riveted to the piece 78. In this example, the

joins do not run across the supporting surfaces, 10 and 14, but it is also possible for a supporting surface to be subdivided.

I claim:

1. A seat including a surface to support a user constituted by a first portion of sheet material, said sheet material being flexible but nevertheless fairly stiff and being a development of a substantially inextensi'ble flat blank portion, a second portion of sheet material integral with the first portion, the two portions being inclined to one another and meeting at a line of fold which is curved, so that the two portions are respectively convex and concave adjacent to the fold when considered from the same side of the sheet, and means which resists reversion of the two portions to the flat condition of said blank.

2. A seat according to claim 1, in which the second portion is an integral part of a closed shape formed by joining together two edges of the sheet material.

3. A seat according to claim 2, in which the first portion constitutes a seat surface and the closed shape constitutes a stand.

4. A seat according to claim 3, in which a re-entrant portion, joined by a fold to the bottom of the stand, extends upwards to support the centre of the first portion.

5. A seat according to claim 3, in which the stand is extended above the free edge of the first portion, and an additional portion, joined by a fold to the top of the stand, extends obliquely downwards to the first portion and constitutes a back supporting surface.

6. A folded chair comprising a first and a second segment of flexible and stiff sheet material, defined by an arcuate fold line between said segments, said first segment joining said second segment at said fold line whereby said first segment is convex and said second segment is concave relative to one side of said sheet material, and means retaining said segments in their respective convex and concave configurations.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,009,740 11/1961 Nelson et a1. 297-445 3,030,149 4/ 1962 HOWe11 297456 Bennett 297-454 Ginat 297452 X Snyder 297440 Platner 297449 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Examiner. 

1. A SEAT INCLUDING A SURFACE TO SUPPORT A USER CONSTITUTED BY A FIRST PORTION OF SHEET MATERIAL, SAID SHEET MATERIAL BEING FLEXIBLE BUT NEVERTHELESS FAIRLY STIFF AND BEING A DEVELOPMENT OF A SUBSTANTIALLY INEXTENSIBLE FLAT BLANK PORTION, A SECOND PORTION OF SHEET MATERIAL INTEGRAL WITH THE FIRST PORTION, THE TWO PORTIONS BEING INCLINED TO ONE ANOTHER AND MEETING AT A LINE OF FOLD WHICH IS CURVED, SO THAT THE TWO PORTIONS ARE RESPECTIVELY CONVEX AND CONCAVE ADJACENT TO THE FOLD WHEN CONSIDERED FROM THE SAME SIDE OF THE SHEET, AND MEANS WITH RESISTS REVERSION OF THE TWO PORTIONS TO THE FLAT CONDITION OF SAID BLANK. 